The Admiral's Wife
by Diane Klepper
Summary: Tom thinks about his mother. Part two of The Admiral's Family series.


The Admiral's Wife   
  
  
  
By Diane Klepper  
  
  
  
(Author's Note: This is the second part of the Admiral's Family series. This was   
the first story I wrote in this series but it was revised to fit the rest of the   
series. Paramount owns the characters. I'm just borrowing them.)   
  
  
  
Harry Kim, who was dressed in black pants and a blue shirt stood over his   
music -stand holding his clarinet. He started to play a few motes and then he   
heard his doorbell chime. He stopped playing. "Come in."  
  
The door opened and in walked Tom Paris. Tom who was still wearing his   
black and red uniform walked in. "Hi, Harry...want to go with me to Sandrine's   
to play some pool."  
  
Harry smiled at his friend. "I thought you had a date with B'Elanna   
tonight."  
  
Tom frowned, "We did. Three Engineers called in sick...B'Elanna had to   
work a double shift."  
  
Harry smirked. "I'm surprised you didn't offer to give her an hand in   
engineering."  
  
"I did. B'Elanna says she can't get anything done when I help her...she   
says I'm too distracting."  
  
Harry smiled. "That's one way of putting it. I want to finish this song   
first. Today's my mom's birthday. I always played her favorite song on her   
birthday...I like to think she somehow knows I still play it for her."  
  
Tom smiled at his friend. "I'm sure she knows Harry… Do you think your Mom  
would mind if I listened too?"  
  
"I think my mom would like that."  
  
Tom sat on the couch and listened as Harry played. Her leaned his head on   
the back of the couch and closed his eyes. In a few minutes he was fast asleep.  
  
  
  
  
Tom Paris wiped the sweat from his brow with his right hand. His gray   
prison coverall was damp with sweat from the heat of the New Zealand summer.   
Tom turned and saw trees and grass in the distance. To the casual observer   
the Federation Penal Colony in Auckland, New Zealand looked like a park. But the   
gray coveralls and the anklet on his right leg that constantly monitored his   
whereabouts reminded him that he was in prison. The anklet on his leg made   
running away impossible. Wherever he ran, the authorities would find him. He   
gave a slight chuckle to that thought. "Like I have anyplace to run to."  
  
He picked up the wielding torch and went back to wielding obsolete   
machinery back together. Tom knew it was just busy work the prison guards gave   
to the inmates to keep them out of trouble, but Tom didn't mind. He'd rather be   
busy. The worst part of his confinement was the long nights in his prison cell.   
He had too much time to think. He spent many nights staring at the ceiling and   
thinking about what he could do with his life when he got out of prison. He knew   
that no one would ever trust him to fly again, but maybe he could get a job   
somewhere in space. Far away from all the bad memories Earth represented to him.   
Tom knew he promised his sister Kathleen that he would go home with her when his   
eighteen month prison sentence was finished but he knew he could not stay in   
San Francisco. It was a Starfleet town. He remembered how all his so- called   
Starfleet friends abandoned him after the truth came out after Caldik Prime and   
he knew he couldn't face that rejection again.  
  
Tom was so lost in thought he did not hear the prison hover car approach   
him. When the guard said, "Hey Paris…you have a visitor." Tom turned to the   
sound of the voice and he was shocked to find a tall woman with blondish-gray   
hair and blue eyes standing next to the guard. "Mom?"  
  
The woman gave him a small smile. "Hello, Tom."  
  
The guard said, "You have fifteen minutes," and then walked back to the   
hovercar and drove away.  
  
Tom just stared at his mother and then said sarcastically, "Mom...I'm   
surprised to see you. Did the Admiral give you permission to come?"  
  
"Tom...I don't like when you talk about your father like that...He's   
hurting too."  
  
Tom laughed, "I'm the one in prison...Dad's the one that said I'm no son   
of his."  
  
With tears in her eyes Maggie Paris said, "Tom...he didn't mean that. Your   
father is a very proud man. When you left Starfleet..."  
  
"You mean when I got kicked out."  
  
"Okay when you got kicked out...it hurt your father badly...it hurt me   
too. Tommy why didn't you come to us, we would of understood. You made a   
mistake...Starfleet forgives mistakes."  
  
Tom turned away from his mother and stared at the trees in the distance.   
"Yeah Starfleet would of forgave me and you would of...but Dad wouldn't. Come on   
Mom you were there...all the lecture...all the punishments when I wasn't   
perfect...I had to be better than anyone else...I was a Paris."  
  
Maggie Paris frowned at her son. "I love your father but sometimes he made   
me so angry. When you were little he treated you more like a junior cadet then   
a son...I remember when you were five and you fell off your hover bike and   
skinned you knee he yelled at you for crying."  
  
Tom gave a slight smile and said, "You know Dad always said a Paris   
doesn't cry."  
  
Maggie Paris lips curved up to give her son a small smile. "Kathleen and   
Moira never showed any interest in going into Starfleet. That was why your   
father started taking you to the simulators at Starfleet Academy when you were   
five years old. You were his youngest child...Owen's only son...you were his   
future. You were the one to make sure another generation of Paris's served in   
the fleet."  
  
Tom smiled, "I remember when Dad first took me out on a shuttle and let me   
fly it. I was so scared...but when I was able to control it, I felt so good. It   
was the first time I felt I had control of my life." Tom frowned, "Dad always   
said if I didn't listen to him I would mess up my life. I guess he was right."   
  
Maggie Paris wiped a few tears from her eyes with her right hand and   
turned to face her son. She saw pain and anger in his eyes, the same pain and   
anger she saw when she looked into her husband's eyes. They were more alike then   
either of them would ever admit. "Tom your right...your father was very strict   
with you, but ever since you were a little boy you had such a reckless streak.   
When you started flying you couldn't wait to go higher and faster...your father   
and I were afraid you would kill yourself doing some crazy stunt. Owen always   
felt that if he didn't keep you on a tight leash you would end up killing   
yourself."  
  
Tom looked away from his mother and said quietly. "Maybe we would of all   
been better off if I did kill myself years ago. . .then those three people at   
Caldik Prime would still be alive."  
  
Mrs. Paris frowned at her son. "Tom don't ever say that...I have been a   
Starfleet wife for thirty-eight years...I have seen too many friends and   
colleagues bury husbands, wives and children. Don't tell me I would be better   
off burying my son." Tom felt some tears in his eyes and wiped them off with his   
dirty hands. He then put on his mask that showed the world that nothing every   
bothered him. "Mom...go home."  
  
Maggie Paris angrily said, "Don't you dare hide behind that mask of   
yours pretending you don't care about anyone or anything...You may be able to   
fool a lot of people with it but not me." She caressed Tom's cheek and said, "I   
could always tell when your were hurting. Whenever your father was lecturing you   
about something you did wrong you use to stand at attention with that mask on   
your face like what he said didn't hurt...but I could see the pain in your eyes.   
I wanted to be there for you Tom, but when I tried to get you to talk about how   
you felt you would tell me that you were fine...then you would make up some   
stupid joke to change the subject. I always felt so left out of your life."  
  
Tom turned to face his mother. "Mom...I never meant to leave you out. I   
just remembered all of Dad's lectures about how a man had to be self reliant."  
  
I use to tell your father he was pushing you too hard when it came to your   
flying. He use to give me a smile and said I shouldn't worry...and you use to   
come home from flying so happy. I couldn't take that away from you."  
  
"Mom...why did you really come?"  
  
"I had to make sure you were okay...to make sure you didn't give up."  
  
"Give up?"  
  
"Give up on your life...your dreams. I want you to promise me you will   
find a way to fly again when you get released from the New Zealand."  
  
Tom frowned, "Mom no one is going to let me fly again with my record...I   
was kicked out of Starfleet and I have a criminal record...no one will trust me   
to pilot a garbage scow."  
  
Maggie Paris took both of Tom's hands and squeezed them gently. "Thomas   
Eugene Paris you listen to me...your just as much my son as you are your   
father's. I did not raise a quitter. I don't know how it will happen but I know   
in my heart and in my soul that something will happen that will let you fly   
again. You will have to be open when the opportunity comes...Do you promise me?"  
  
"Mom...I..."  
  
"Tom promise me."  
  
Tom just stared at his mother for a minute. He looked into her blue eyes   
that were the same color as his and for the first time in a long time he saw   
hope. After all the things he did to wreck his life his mom still had hope for   
him. A small smile appeared on his lips. "Yes, ma'am."  
  
Mrs. Paris smiled. She then dropped Tom's hands and she hugged him. "Tom,   
I love you."  
  
Tom smiled at his mother and hugged her back. "I love you too, Mom."  
  
  
  
"Tom?"  
  
Tom Paris eyes suddenly opened and he found himself sitting on the couch   
in Harry's quarter's. "Harry...what happened?"  
  
"I don't know…I just finished my mom's song and I called your name but you   
seemed to be miles away."  
  
Tom smiled, "I was...I was with my mom. Do you know she was the one of the   
few people who never gave up on me."  
  
Harry smiled, "Moms are like that."  
  
Tom slowly stood up and said, "Come on Harry...lets go to Sandrine's."  
  
"To play pool?"  
  
Tom smiled and said, "No let's drink to our moms."  
  
Harry smiled at his friend. "That's a great idea." Tom and Harry walked   
out the door of Harry's quarters and walked to the holodeck. 


End file.
